


I’ll keep telling this lie (if you keep believing it)

by Raehimura



Category: Pacific Rim (Movies)
Genre: First Kiss, Getting Together, Hermann is totally going to remind Newt that they're on a mission, M/M, Mildly Dubious Consent, a missing scene taking place right before Newt is revealed, any second now, for some reason they seem to think groping Hermann is the best option, precursor!newt, takes place during PRU, the Precursors need a distraction, with a happy ending post-film
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-12
Updated: 2018-07-12
Packaged: 2019-06-09 14:13:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15269208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Raehimura/pseuds/Raehimura
Summary: Later, after months of recovery, Newt would still have large gaps in his memory, but he would be able to piece together this: The computer processes that would take control of the drones needed more time to finish. So the Precursors had reached deep into Newt’s mind to find a suitable distraction.At the time, all Hermann knew was that Newt was edging closer.





	I’ll keep telling this lie (if you keep believing it)

**Author's Note:**

> I was toying with this concept when I saw this amazing [fanart](https://pixiepunch.tumblr.com/post/173982132022/dont-remember-if-i-posted-this-here) by pixiepunch on Tumblr and absolutely had to write about it.

It’s only later that Hermann gets the whole story.

He and Newt had rushed into the Shao Industries lab, wielding weapons and threats to clear out the personnel so they could stop the drones from opening more rifts. At least, that’s what Hermann was there for.

But Newt hadn’t immediately jumped into the plan — Hermann’s or the Precursors’. He’d paused before approaching the computer, head tilted and eyes tracking across the screen. Later, after months of recovery, Newt would still have large gaps in his memory, but he would be able to piece together this: The computer processes that would take control of the drones needed more time to finish. So the Precursors had reached deep into Newt’s mind to find a suitable distraction.

At the time, all Hermann knew was that Newt had turned back to him and was edging closer.

“Er, Newt? What are you doing? Shouldn't we be getting on with the plan to stop the drones?”

But Newt just kept edging closer, right up in Hermann’s personal space with a cocky little smile, staring at Hermann’s lips and  _God_  he looked amazing in his new stupid flashy wardrobe. Hermann felt a heat bloom on his cheeks. Despite the pressing nature of the situation, a gap of years and wretched longing opened underneath him, and he found himself hypnotized, paralyzed … but also swaying closer.

“We will,” Newt murmured, still smiling in that way that wasn't quite familiar. “But first, I just need to tell you how much I’ve missed you. I don’t know why I’ve stayed away all this time.”

And Hermann definitely had something to say about that, quite a lot actually, but Newt was still staring at his lips and leaning closer, and Hermann had wanted this for twenty damn years.

Newt kissed him. Just lightly, barely a kiss, but it was enough to make Hermann gasp. Newt paused for barely a second before pressing in again. But Hermann turned away, his cane skidding clumsily across the ground in his haste.

“Now is hardly the time for this, Newton!” Hermann tried to keep his voice steady and judgmental, what Newt would expect, but it wavered piteously.

Newt laughed, a confident little chuckle that sounded just a little bit wrong even as it sent shivers down Hermann’s spine. Newt pressed against his back and looped his arms around him, one landing on his hip and the other at his shoulder. He leaned his chin on Hermann's shoulder and spoke softly into his ear.

“Didn’t you miss me, Herms?”

Hermann choked on his reply as Newt’s hands moved, smoothing across the starchy fabric of his shirt. A firm palm brushed across his shoulder to his chest and then up to gently splay across his neck and jaw. The other hand dipped lower, to press teasingly at the soft skin just above Hermann’s belt.

God, Newt was warm and broad behind him, pressing into him and clutching at him like now that he’d started he never wanted to let go again. The spicy, cloying scent of cologne engulfed them, another detail just wrong enough to prick, but Hermann's brain seemed content to ignore anything that would deprive him of finally having this. Having  _Newt_.

Newt nosed at the sensitive spot behind his ear, and Hermann found himself leaning his head back, exposing more throat for Newt’s gently stroking fingers. Vulnerable. A groan caught in his throat.

When was the last time anyone had touched Hermann in more than a perfunctory way?

Hermann shifted his weight further onto his good leg as heat and sensation curled deep in his gut, his body reacting shockingly fast to the relatively chaste touch. His head swam, and he tried desperately to remember why they shouldn’t be doing this now, as an alarm sounded somewhere in the facility behind them.

Twenty damn years.

He leaned his weight more firmly against Newt and dropped his head further, to rest against Newt’s shoulder, biting his lip hard as the hand on his stomach dipped to flirt with the top of his trousers.

Hermann raised a shaking hand, to stop him or pull him closer or just touch, but instead he bit his lip harder and closed his eyes, gripping both hands around his cane and raising it to his chest to help control himself. They had a duty, and a time limit. Hermann would open his mouth and remind Newt of that any minute now.

Then, that chuckle again, low and close to his ear, and Newt’s rough voice, “Why didn’t we do this sooner?”

He asked it like he was talking about the weather. With a playful little twist to the words. Like this was something easy, something they could joke about, something to  _tease_  over.

Enough.

Hermann tore himself from Newt’s grasp with a grunt and whirled to face him. He could feel himself, flushed and rumpled and gaping at Newt like he’d just popped in through the Rift, but Newt looked almost unaffected, not a carefully coiffed hair out of place. Hermann’s frown pinched deeper at Newt’s haughty smile as his former partner shrugged easily and straightened his brocade vest.

“Newton,” Hermann began, when he’d recovered enough to steady his voice and trust his clipped, precise syllables. “I don’t know what has gotten into you, but we don’t have time to deal with it now. We must focus.”

Newt just turned back to the large computer screens with a laugh that sounded like a stranger — then again, when was the last time Hermann had heard him sound like himself?

“Alright, save the world time. Again.”

* * *

Later, when Newt is finally free from the Precursors influence, every doctor and specialist and official that evaluates him makes him recite his entire story, over and over, every little detail he can remember. It’s important both to ensure Newt is really free and to aide their understanding of the Precursors, but Hermann wishes he could spare him the experience.

All he can do is insist on being present for every “conversation” (the PPDC’s fancy euphemism for what were essentially interrogations). It is at one of the first of these sessions that Hermann finally learns the whole story.

“So, um, they … er, I saw that the program wasn’t ready to launch yet, and the Precursors didn’t want to risk anyone knowing about the plan until it was too late,” Newt explains, his usually brash voice quiet and flat. “So we, um,  _they_  needed a distraction.”

The therapist conducting this conversation leans forward in his chair and asks gently, “Right, but why do you think they chose to use physical intimacy with Dr. Gottlieb as their distraction? Do you think they understood what they were doing? Do they have a similar concept of intimacy and affection?”

Hermann barely stifles his startled cough. He’d sat through this particular part of the story enough times to almost completely ignore the embarrassment, but no one had asked such a question before. Most had seemed eager to skip this part and get on with the ensuing battle.

Newt glances briefly at Hermann before dropping his eyes back to the tabletop, where they’d been fixed since the beginning of the session.

“I … no, I don’t think so. I think they had some vague plans to try to convert Hermann to their side or use him as a resource, but this was more … God, how do I explain it?”

Newt’s knee begins to jump nervously, and Hermann yearns to reach over and still it, but now hardly seems like an appropriate time.

“No, they could see the concepts in my head, but I don’t think they really understood them,” Newt continues. “It was more like …  They could see from my thoughts, my knowledge, that this tactic would work as a distraction and was the least likely to cause suspicion or hostility. They seemed to get the impression from my memories, at least, that Hermann wasn’t likely to haul off and punch me. Or ask if I was possessed by an alien hivemind.”

Newt winces at his own joke, but the therapist lets the silence linger, encouraging him to continue if he has more to say.

Newt blows out a breath. “And, frankly, they were fighting pretty hard to maintain control at that point. It was always easier to stay in control if they had me doing … well, things I already wanted to do.”

Newt is still carefully staring at the table in front of him, but Hermann can’t stop staring at him, his heart thudding loudly in his chest.

The therapist hums and asks, without looking up from the notes he is rapidly scribbling, “So the Precursors knew what you felt, what you wanted, and they seemed to be under the impression that Hermann may have desired the same. Is this because the two of you had a preexisting intimate relationship?”

At that, Hermann really does splutter, and even Newt raises his head to blink rapidly at his questioner.

Hermann cuts in. “I hardly think that question is necessary or appropriate.”

The therapist just returns their looks with calm eyes and a small smile, “Forgive me for the awkward question gentlemen, but your answers could really help us understand more about the Precursors' psychology, their culture, and their understanding of humanity.”

After a long pause, Newt finally answers. “No, not really. We didn’t … we hadn’t kissed or anything like that before that day.”

The therapist hums again and starts writing more vigorously. Hermann just wants Newt to look at him.

The silence that follows is thick, only interrupted when the therapist flips his notebook shut and nods at them. “Okay, Dr. Geiszler. Dr. Gottlieb. I think that’s enough for now. We’ll take a break and talk a little more this afternoon?”

“Sure, man, whatever I can do to help,” Newt says, ducking his head as they shake hands.

The palpable silence continues in the therapist’s wake, and Hermann has just gotten enough words together to suggest they go to the mess hall when Newt finally speaks.

“I’m sorry.”

Hermann blinks, taken aback, though this is hardly the first apology he’s heard from Newt. And isn’t likely to be the last. “What? For the story? You hardly had a choice.”

“No, I mean …” Newt sighs, hand coming up to rub the back of his neck as he finally, finally, glances at Hermann. “I just realized I never said sorry for, you know, groping you.”

“We’ve been over this, Newton. It wasn’t you. I’m not holding it against you anymore than I am the kaiju coming through the rifts.”

Newt shakes his head, hard. “It wasn't me in control, not really, but … They got it from me. I wanted to. That’s what gave them the idea. They were just giving me what I wanted. And I’m so sorry it involved you.”

“I’m not.”

It's Newt’s turn to blink, frowning. “What?”

“You think they decided to use that particular tactic just because you wanted it?” Hermann inquires, in the same tone he would use to lay out a mathematical proof. “They wanted to keep me distracted, and they wanted to keep me from becoming suspicious or stopping you. They saw something in your memories, in your knowledge of me, that made them think kissing me was the best strategy.”

Hermann breathes out shakily, forcing himself to look Newt in the eye. With a crooked smile, he reaches out and takes his hand.

“They assumed I wanted it as well. And they were right.”

Newt’s eyes are huge as he stares, hand grasping instinctively at the one holding his own. “Hermann …”

“Now understand, I’m not holding you to anything that happened while you were under their control,” Hermann hurries to assure him. “Just because you’ve felt that way about me doesn’t mean you ever intended to pursue it, and it definitely doesn’t mean you want to pursue it now, after everything. I just wanted you to know. We don’t have to do anything, obviously-”

Newt steps into his space and grabs his face to stop his rambling. “Hermann. Shut up.”

So Hermann does, and Newt leans up to kiss him, and this time it’s not only the real Newt, but it’s them and it’s natural and it’s  _right_. And Hermann knows that now that they’ve started, he’s never letting go again.


End file.
